FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Broward County Mayor Tim Ryan said Tuesday that Uber's future in Broward County is in the company's own hands.
"I suppose it's up to Uber to save itself," Ryan said.
Related: Online petition created to keep Uber in Broward County
After Monday's announcement that the popular car-sharing service will stop all pickups in Broward County on July 31, Ryan is standing by the county commission's vote in April to force Uber drivers to submit to fingerprint checks, which is what Ryan and other commissioners said is the chief new rule that is driving Uber out of the county.
"The reason they are concerned about fingerprint checks is that it will cause less people to apply to be Uber drivers," Commissioner Marty Kiar said. "With less drivers out there, it increases pickup time and makes them look bad."
Ryan said it's all about safety.
"South Florida is the epicenter for identity theft so it's very important that a consumer knows that the person that is operating that Uber vehicle is who they say they are," Ryan said. "That's the way the reason to have the verification with the fingerprinting."
But others said it's about politics. The chief proponent for the fingerprint provision after all was Jesse Gaddis, the politically connected multimillionaire who owns Yellow Cab, Uber's chief competition in Broward County.
Gaddis and his business interests have contributed big money to commission campaigns and have hired a bevy of lobbyists, including Bernie Friedman, George Platt and Judy Stern, to push for the new regulations that have Uber threatening to leave.
Ryan, however, said Gaddis and his companies, which also have to follow the fingerprinting provision, had no special influence on the April vote.
"I doubt that there's been anyone who has hijacked this system," he said. "In fact, the discussion is really about public safety and consumer protection."
The mayor said campaign contributions he's personally received from Gaddis-related taxi industry and their lobbyists had no effect on his vote either.
"I make my decisions on what I think is best in the community," he said.
Commissioner Chip LaMarca, who is perhaps the most pro-Uber commissioner, said the new background checks are unnecessary.
"Us setting up this whole level of regulation in Broward County to me is a complete waste of taxpayers' money," he said.
LaMarca said Uber background checks, which track criminal records and other data, are sufficient.
"I can't understand why a progressive commission wouldn't see this ride-sharing shared economy, what's going on in this country, really in the world, as a benefit to open competition," LaMarca said.
Ryan said the commission will take up the Uber issue when it returns from summer break in August after Uber has promised to stop conducting pickups in the county. Ryan said he wants to negotiate with the company, but he doesn't understand why it is so dead set against the fingerprint requirement when Uber continues to provide service in three cities that have the same requirement: Columbus, Ohio, Houston and New York City.
"If those other markets are acceptable for fingerprinting, I'm at a loss to understand why Uber wants to draw a line in the sand for South Florida," he said.
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